Monday, June 25, 2012

I visited the Flight 93 Memorial this weekend...

It's heart-wrenching. And, I have to be honest. I'm angry with where our country is.

It was very emotional to be there, just over an hour from where I grew up in southwestern Pennsylvania. To stand so close to where every-day heroes made an unimaginably brave decision when faced with a situation that causes panic in my heart as I think about it as I'm writing this today. They made the kind of decision that few are faced with and even fewer can follow through on. I stood in awe of their bravery.

It didn't end that day. The bravery continues every day with men and women from across the globe fighting for the world to be a safer place. Maybe you don't agree with war. Maybe you do. Either way, no one likes it. We can all agree on that.

And this is where my anger begins....

When I stood on that walkway looking down the marble wall marking the flight path of Flight 93 and staring headlong into the boulder that marks the impact site, I was immediately sickened by thoughts of the games that our politicians and even our president are currently playing. They are cowards. They don't have the guts to stand up for what's right, even when it's difficult and unpopular.

I'll say this. If our politicians were on Flight 93 on September 11th, 2001, I can't in good conscience, believe that they would have had the courage to stand up to the terrorists the way those common men and women did. I'm tired of cowards telling us what's right and wrong. I'm tired of cowards telling us what we should and shouldn't be doing. I'm tired of the arrogant telling the humble that we're not smart enough to make this thing work.

Mr. President, Congressmen and women, Senators and all other politicians, listen up: We're tired of you. We're tired of every day heroes being over-shadows by your political games. We're tired of you pretending that you have our best interests in mind so that we'll vote for you again. We're tired of being lied to. I have some advice for you. Take a day off from your childish games and visit the Flight 93 Memorial. Reflect on that day. And then explain to me why you spent $2 million in federal grant money to help pay for a multi-million dollar wine exhibition and culinary center in Washington State(source), while the memorial to a few of our nation's heroes remains unfinished. Please... explain that to me. Please explain that to the families of the heroes that died that day. I would love to hear your reasoning.

I won't apologize for being angry. We need to be angry. We need to expect more from our elected officials. We need to demand more from our elected leaders. I know many of you don't care about politics. I get it. I didn't used to either. But it's not about politics. It's about right and wrong. We are being led whether we like it or not and when we no longer care where it is that we're being led, we are in a very dangerous place.

I humbly ask that, if you do nothing else, please take a minute and visit the Flight 93 Memorial website: http://www.nps.gov/flni/index.htm. Take a look around and think about how you can make the world a little better today. We can all do it. Real change happens when many people make small changes. Make a change for the better today and I'll do the same.